Jobs That No Longer Exist In El Paso

Some folks in El Paso, especially younger El Pasoans, won't believe that these jobs actually did once exist. They not only did, they were pretty common.

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Do you know what a soda jerk is? (No, not an idiot with a coke.) Soda jerks were the people that worked the soda fountain when many drug stores had lunch counters. Think bartender ... which, thankfully, we still have plenty of ... but soda instead of beer. The Walgreens that was across from near San Jacinto Plaza had theirs all the way up until 1990 or so.

Those days are gone. If you want a fountain drink now, outside of a restaurant, you have to find a convenience store and pour it yourself. Jeez, some fast food joints won't even pour 'em for you anymore.

Jobs That No Longer Exist In El Paso

Whether peeps just figured out how to do some things for themselves or modern technology automated the task(s), "Jerking" soda isn't the only job you have to do yourself around here.

 Jobs That Shouldn't Exist

Those are a few jobs that people don't do anymore, you're on your own. There are a few other jobs out there though that, (you'd think), people would refuse to do. These are just weird or disgusting or just, ewwww ...

Then, there are the jobs that are ... "sorta" ... no longer around. Folks are still doing them but not as extensively as they used to. The "herd" has been thinned, so to speak ...

Jobs Diminished

Embalmer for example. Prepping a dead body for burial requires a process known as embalming. (I know, I used to work at a funeral home. I like radio WAYYY better.) I'm not sure exactly when funeral directors gave up on this but, these days, most if not all embalming procedures are farmed out to companies that do nothing but embalming.

Death By Internet

Ditto for shopping. Doing it online really reduced the need for physical stores you could actually visit. Which also stripped down the number of craftsman, repair people, salespeople, etc. "Brick and mortar's" aren't as necessary - you're your own salesperson and if your item breaks, you just send it back.